What to watch Friday in high school football

Thursday

Oct 4, 2012 at 12:01 AMOct 4, 2012 at 6:33 PM

Hot topics, players to watch and more.

Phillip Gardner

HOT TOPICS

Game of the week: Forestview at South Point— Another prolific spread offense takes a shot at the Big South 3A Conference front-runner as QB Logan Bradley and the Jaguars (5-2, 1-1) try to beat South Point (7-0, 3-0) for the first time since 2009. South Point scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns to beat Ashbrook 30-13 last week in the Red Raiders’ second-closest game of the season. South Point has tied a school record with 17 consecutive conference wins, a feat it also pulled off from 1970 to 1972 and from 1998 to 2001.

Injury bug hits QBs — Record-setting East Lincoln quarterback Garrett Young is out indefinitely with a dislocated kneecap and Ashbrook quarterback Tre Brice’s status is uncertain after he injured his knee last week. East Lincoln coach Mike Byus fears Young could miss the remainder of the season. Young was averaging 311 passing yards and ranks sixth in county history in single-season yards (1,891) and third in career yards (4,933). Freshman Chaz Surratt is the backup. Brice averages a Big South Conference-leading 204.7 passing yards with 12 TDs. If Brice can’t play, Austin Mitchell would start in his place.

A win at last— One Gaston County team is guaranteed its first win Friday as Highland Tech (0-6) travels to Bessemer City (0-7) in Southern Piedmont 1A/2A Conference action. Bessemer City moved Cedric Mackey to fullback and Damian Scott to quarterback last week, and it worked to a certain degree as the Yellow Jackets rushed for a season-high 222 yards but lost to undefeated Lake Norman Charter 55-12. Highland Tech is looking to snap an 18-game losing streak.

Huskies face alum— Mike Helms, a 1977 Hunter Huss graduate, will bring his 5-2 Freedom team to Gastonia to face his alma mater Friday. Hunter Huss trails the series 7-5 and lost last year’s meeting 45-7. Helms needs four wins to reach 100 as a coach.

PLAYER TO WATCH

Mykelti Armstrong

WR, Forestview

The 6-foot, 160-pound junior is coming off a 106-yard, three-TD receiving effort against North Gaston and the Jaguars are looking for more of that Friday against a South Point defense that yielded a pair of 100-yard receivers last week against Ashbrook.

BY THE NUMBERS

12.4

Scoring deficit for North Gaston this season — a 17-point improvement on last season.

THEY SAID IT

“I can see this happening again.”

— East Gaston coach Sean Joyce after the Warriors picked up their first win last week, beating Harding 47-13. East Gaston visits 0-6 Garinger Friday.

DID YOU KNOW?

Gaston County is home to more than one 1,000-yard passer for the first time since 2008 as Ashbrook’s Tre Brice (1,228 yards), Forestview’s Logan Bradley (1,226) and Hunter Huss’ Andrew Jordan (1,086) have reached the milestone. The county had seen only two 1,000-yard passers over the past four seasons — one last year and one in 2009. Passing was much more common immediately before that period as four quarterbacks reached four figures in 2006, 2007 and 2008 and seven did it in 2005.